Cross-stitch projects update

Tree Frog is nearly complete, but I have gotten distracted and it has been put off to the side for awhile.  First I did a small owl pattern that I found a picture of on google images, that I charted out from the picture.  Here is how he turned out:

I plan on framing it using one on my old hoops and gluing a ruffle type ribbon, in the same color as the heart, around the outer edge.  It will be a gift for one of my crafting friends.

Next, I pulled this out of my UFO stash.

Actually, it was someone else's unfinished project that I bought at a thrift sale some years ago.  I'd put it away, because I'd only worked on Aida and the even-weave fabric intimidated me.  Now that I have experience with even-weave, I decided to pull it out and give it a try. I took a look at the stitching that had been done, to see if I should frog it or just pick up where they left off.  The answer to that question is definitely frog it.  Take a look at the back, pre-frog:

It was obviously someone's first attempt at cross-stitch. They'd used knots to anchor the threads, and there was mid strand snarls left in place.  The stitching did not follow any real discernible pattern.  And as I was picking out the stitches, I discovered not all the crossing stitches leaned the same direction.  Oh, the horror.  Once I finished frogging, I put the fabric into my q-snap.  At first I couldn't get the q-snap c-clamps to go on because it kept getting caught on the 7 count Klostern fabric.  So I cut some strips of fabric from an old t-shirt to cover the fabric and the c-clamps went on easy after that.  And yes, I said 7 count fabric.  It uses all 6 strands of floss at once.  With such big stitches, the stitching has come along quite quickly.  I am about 90% complete. 

Happy Stitching!

UFO back in storage

MIL came back early from Florida, so Innocent Guardian had to be put away, which kinda sucked, because I was making progress and really getting back into it.  I finished the backstitching on the upper portion of the main stitched area, and was moving on to the French knots in her hair garland and the grape bunches.

 

 

Next I will start the backstitching of the grape leaves and work towards the bottom half, then work all the backstitching and French knots on the skirt and hem garland.  Last thing to do will be the "halo" that is around her.  The pattern uses one strand of gold floss and two strands of gold blending filament to make French knots to in a large oval shape around her upper half to form the "halo".  I tried, but the blending filament is just too slick, my French knot kept slipping to the back.  After several attempts, I removed it.  I've decided that I am going to use glass gold colored beads instead of French knots for the halo dots.  I think that will look awesome.  And that will be the last thing to do before she is finished.  I will be so happy to get her done and framed.

 

Now that I've started working on her again, I'm anxious to get back to it.  I may have to set it up in a corner of my craft room that the MIL never ventures into.  The problem is that corner is quite dark, so setting up good lighting will be necessary.

My Big UFO and a couple quick projects

Here is My Big UFO:



Innocent Guardian - in progress

 

It is a Dimensions kit that I started approx. 10 years ago, as a gift for my Mother-in-Law.  The main stitching went well enough, but I got very frustrated with the immense amount of backstitching and French knots.  I hit a point where the color listed for a section in the instructions just didn't look right.  I contacted the company to see if there had been any modifications to the pattern, specifically the color choices for the backstitching.  I did not get any reply.  So it got put away for awhile.  Now that my MIL lives with us, I have to take advantage of when she travels since she still has no clue I'm making this for her.  She is gone for 2 weeks visiting family in Florida, so out comes the UFO.  I finally just changed the color that was causing my issues.  Now I'm making progress again.  We'll see just how much I can accomplish while MIL is gone.  Then it will get packed away until her next trip.  I will certainly celebrate when this one is done.

I've completed a couple small projects:

The sunflower and bee is a small kit that I picked up at Michaels in SLC.  A nice easy project that was fun to stitch.

I happened across this little project while doing a Google images search.  The original border was a bit awkward, so I modified it.  This little guy took only 3 hours to stitch up. Here is the pattern I drew up:

Tree Frog progress has slowed but not stopped.

Also, I have two more additions to my stash.  Again a Google Images search led me to these.  Both are from an Ebay store named Stitching Addiction.


Morris' Flowers and Foliage

Dandelion

I was very excited to find the dandelion pattern.  I've been looking for a realistic looking pattern of a seeded dandelion for quite a while. There are exactly100 colors in this one.